Police hunting for gunmen who killed boy in his bed

Detectives were last night hunting two men who shot dead a churchgoing schoolboy in his own bed in what is believed to have been a case of mistaken identity.

The 15-year-old was shot in his home in Peckham, south London, just after midnight yesterday. The gunmen are believed to have forced the door to the house in Diamond Way, before shooting the teenager who was at home with his sister. She tried to save his life before calling the emergency services.

Police believe the house was targeted by the killers, but there were no clues from the 15-year-old's seemingly exemplary life to explain why he should have been the victim of a callous gangland-style killing.

The teenager regularly worshipped at the Celestial Church of Christ, in nearby Bird In Bush Road, and attended St Michael's secondary school, Bermondsey.

His parents were not at home, and he was found by his sister who heard the shots and the gunmen escaping. She found her brother bleeding in his bedroom and struggled in vain to save his life, talking to him as she waited for an ambulance.

The schoolboy, who had turned 15 on Sunday, was taken to King's College hospital, where he was pronounced dead less than an hour later.

On Sunday in south London a teenager was killed in front of scores of people as he ice skated in nearby Streatham.

Police yesterday said there were no obvious links to other killings in the Peckham area.

Detective Superintendent Gary Richardson said: "We believe the boy went to bed at around midnight. At this point we assume the suspects forced entry into the house. The boy was shot while he was in bed.

"This boy was not known to police. We believe he was a quiet, well-mannered schoolboy who went to church and was not involved in any criminality in any form. The sister heard gunshots and two men running out of the premises, and then discovered her brother in his bedroom.

"We believe he was able to communicate with her for a time after the shooting but obviously it's a dreadful, dreadful incident for her. She is distraught and she's with police who are trying to get a full account, but obviously it's very difficult."

A neighbour of the schoolboy said the whole community was shocked. The mother-of-two, who asked not to be named, said: "I knew the boy and I know the family. Everybody around here is horrified by what has happened.

"For him to be shot as he slept in his bed beggars belief. As far as I know he was a good boy. He went to church regularly and was always pleasant when I saw him in the street. This was just a child. What can he have done to deserve to be killed?"

The shooting just after 12.30am yesterday follows a series of recent murders in the area. On Saturday, a 21-year-old man was stabbed to death in the adjacent road to Diamond Street, Southampton Way. In the early hours of Sunday, a man in his 40s was shot dead and another injured less than a mile away in Flamborough House, Clayton Road. James Andre Smartt-Ford, 16, died after he was was shot at least twice at an ice rink.

A murder inquiry into the latest shooting has been launched by Scotland Yard's Operation Trident team, which investigates gun crime in the black community.

Peckham has tried hard to improve its image since the killing of 10-year-old schoolboy Damilola Taylor in 2000. That crime came to symbolise the extent of violence that was blighting certain parts of inner city Britain. He bled to death in a stairwell of the run-down North Peckham estate after being jabbed in the leg with a broken bottle. Yeterday's killing is less than a mile from the estate.